Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counter-offensive on Monday in central Mali after four days of air strikes by French warplanes on their strongholds in the desert north, promising to drag France into a long and brutal Afghanistan-style ground war.

On interventions like this regular French army troops are not used. These will be French Forign Legion, and they are very tough hombres. Also the French are not as finicky about rules of engagement like we are.

Mali islamists have tied into something they will regret.

6
posted on 01/14/2013 6:55:53 AM PST
by Jimmy Valentine
(DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)

Yes, the French are fighting Muslim terrorists who were armed from Libyan depots via Obama's Benghazi's operation and directly by switching sides in Mali with US supplied equipment as well as with US technical support and training before they defected. This is another arm of Obama's support for Islamic transnational terrorism in Africa and the Middle East trying to establish the Greater Caliphate. Obama is a great Muslim leader and Hollande stands in his way. The world turned upside down.

If you read the history of France you will discover a long history of military excellence along with a few major defeats. Sadly the French officer core in WW1 was terrible. Simply horrible and needlessly killed millions and millions of Frances best and brightest. So horrific were Frances losses in WW1 that the French has no will to fight 20 years later when WW2 came around. However the French appear to reverting back to their fighting past. And also appear (unlike the USA under Bush/Obama) to have a pretty good idea of who the enemy really is. We should be happy to have them in the fight.

It would be instructive to witness the Legion in a two to three month operation supported by the French Air Force against Islamists in Mali. The results will probably be similar to the initial American success against the Taliban when The US initially intervened. The Taliban suffered heavy causalities and their government fell. But to what end? There has been a prolonged inconclusive war ever since. The same thing will happen in Mali. Unless the native non Islamists in Africa, arm, organize and effectively resist, Africa will eventually be predominantly Islamic. Also if the West were serious about stopping this fundamentalist wave, then it will have to deal with the Saudis in a definitive manner.

If you read the history of France you will discover a long history of military excellence...

Yes. The French collapse in 1940 was due the German army's brilliant tank strategy, not French cowardice. One little-known story of that campaign is how well the remnants of the French army fought to cover the British evacuation at Dunkirk.

France has a huge Muslim population, I’m sure the sleeper cells there can cause a lot of problems. Is their immigration policy going to haunt them or will it open the eyes of the west to the terrorist threat once those cells start bombing innocents?

The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February to 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France.

According to contemporary estimates, Verdun resulted in 714,321 casualties, 377,231 on the French side and 337,000 on the German one, an average of 70,000 casualties for each of the ten months of the battle.[5] It was the longest and one of the most devastating battles in the First World War and the history of warfare. Modern estimates increase the number of casualties to 976,000.

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II.[a] It took place at Senlac Hill, approximately 10 km (61⁄4 miles) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.

"The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown, the latter taking place on October 19, 1781, was a decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis.

"The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition. On 2 December 1805 (20 November Old Style, 11 Frimaire An XIV, in the French Republican Calendar), a French army, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army, commanded by Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting. The battle took place near Austerlitz (Slavkov u Brna) about 10 km (6 mi) south-east of Brno in Moravia, at that time in the Austrian Empire (present day Czech Republic). The battle was a tactical masterpiece of the same stature of Gaugamela and Cannae."

One little-known story of that campaign is how well the remnants of the French army fought to cover the British evacuation at Dunkirk. Hopeful signs here that when and if the French crack down hard on the psychopathic Islamists.

My dad was with a British army infantry regiment at the Dendry Canal in Belgium. He never said much, but the book by his Commanding officer, mentioned the French 5th light tanks and the Cameron regiment (Scotties)as support.

They faced the panzers and could only delay them at a canal bridge. The platoon of English soldier were lucky to get taken off eventually at Dunkirk. 35,000 French troops covered the retreat. Thousands were also taken off to England.

I know Winston Churchill made some statement about France being given some special rights as an ally at that time. I cannot find any reference though.

I am a history buff and it annoys me when the Franks and French army is disrespected. They have about 1500 years of history most of it victorious. The only real stain on their honor was the Vichy French of WW2. I spent time in DeGauls' France in the 60s' and I do not particularly like the French (they don't particularly like us either) but surrender monkeys they are not.

Generalship in WW1 sucked, civilian leadership in pre WW2 sucked, hopefully they are correcting their problems.

I do not disagree with anything you’ve said.
But it looks like France is losing this war against the mooselimb crazies.
How many buildings and vehicles have been torched in France each year and folks killed there.
And that is due to their liberal immigrations laws of yeas past.

For me many memories revived here with the old films. A child at the time, I had a great time with an all- band radio. Even today, I remember the stentorian tones of the announcer in London. A classic opening to music happened to coincide with the letter V. This was played first. I think it was from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Da Da Da Dum. (Churchill had flashed the V sign replete with his cigar.)

The voice intoned:

Ici Londres. This is the London and the European service of the BBC.

We were quite free to tune in to "Germany Calling" on the long wave. Another story however.

The French have had their moments. Not many in 1940 to be sure, when whole divisions of the Second and Ninth Armies panicked and fled before Guderian's tanks, but they had pretty incompetent leadership too.

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